E17: “Hard Forks Are Bad” – 7/29/2016

In this episode I discuss the ethereum and bitcoin hard forks. Ethereum is a mess right now with ETC rising in value and ETH dipping. We will see a parity of value in the future under 0.01 BTC. I’m thinking around 0.002 BTC per ETC and ETH.

Let’s start with a little Ethereum origin myth. Vitalik came from the World of Warcraft scene, and named his bitcoin knock-off after one the factions in the game. The Ethereum from WOWwere riddled with in fighting and madness, which is exactly what we see with the ETH today.

Some Skype chat logs have emerged where insiders in Ethereum are talking about how to destroy ETC and how to rig the markets. Not good for a non-profit.chat logs

Andrew DeSantis had a popular tweet about a ETC exploit of Coinbase. Coinbase stupidly started supporting Ethereum and stupidly made the decision to disregard ETC. People were able to leak ETC out of Coinbase. I don’t think this makes them insolvent, but it makes a large player in bitcoin look very dumb.Coinbase exploit

R/btc rediscovers altcoins. A silly post on r/btc calls for a ‘spin-off’ of bitcoin, basically a hard fork, and thinks this is innovative or revolutionary. Spin-offs are just altcoins.Newbs in action
They are feeling empowered by Roger Ver’s new foray into mining. He is trying to set up a bitcoin.com mining pool. It’s funny that people think a mining pool run by Ver will not be affected by the same incentives as other pools. It could be quite lucrative though, because core supporters might move there to block any stupid action by the Verites.Ver mining pool

There’s one more option now for wealthy Europeans to buy into bitcoin. The BitcoinETI has launched on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange. These types of instruments will become very popular over the next 12 months, as they are a great alternative investment that is easy to understand.BitcoinETI

The BOJ disappoints with a weaker than expected stimulus package. I’m watching Japan and China’s involvement with bitcoin closely as their economic policies may start to align in an anti-USD way. Their appetites for gold and bitcoin have both increased as of late.Bank of Japan meeting on QE and interest rates

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to support the show with a share or a donation.